The Truth
by DawgStar
Summary: The question is asked but Syd's thinking about leaving APO. A problem comes btw the sisters. Someone's shot and there's a nuclear missile to defuse. It's hard to see the Truth when loved ones are at stake. new chapter up!
1. Default Chapter

What day is it? And in what month?  
This clock never seemed so alive  
I can't keep up and I can't back down  
I've been losing so much time

Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do  
Nothing to lose  
And it's you and me and all of the people  
And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you

All of the things that I want to say just aren't coming out right  
I'm tripping on words  
You've got my head spinning  
I don't know where to go from here

Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do  
Nothing to prove  
And it's you and me and all of the people  
And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you

There's something about you now  
I can't quite figure out  
Everything she does is beautiful  
Everything she does is right

Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do  
Nothing to lose  
And it's you and me and all of the people  
And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you  
and me and all of the people with nothing to do  
Nothing to prove  
And it's you and me and all of the people  
And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you

What day is it?  
And in what month?  
This clock never seemed so alive

"You and Me" Lifehouse

* * *

THE TRUTH

The drops hit the top of her head and rolled down her face, dripping off her chin and soaking into her shirt. They fell straight down from the gray heavens above as if God himself was crying and the tears tapped against anything within range. She didn't take notice though. Even as she could see her breath through the rain, she didn't even shiver.

Her heart ached and she frowned in pain. Taking a deep breath, she looked up to the sky and closed her eyes. The rain came down steadily and she wasn't sure if she was still crying. She didn't have the energy to scream out loud like she felt she needed to. Trying to take another deep breath trying to calm her raged nerves. It got caught in her throat and shook her deeply.

"Syd?" A soft familiar voice asked her.

Swallowing, she shook her head and opened her eyes to see him standing in front of her. His hair was matted down on his forehead and his nice button down office shirt and slacks were soaked. He stood so still, his hands at his sides and his eyes staring at her.

"I can't." She replied, biting her lower lip in pain. She felt slightly sick and her heart sped up. "I can't… I don't know what to do."

A car passed by them, splashing a deep puddle up and getting her gym shoes even more wet. She looked down, but wasn't concerned about her soaked feet. It just gave her a reason not to keep her strength up in order to look composed. Closing her eyes again, she listened to his breathing and the way the rain hit the asphalt beneath her shoes.

He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her, giving her so much warmth that her whole body shook in relief. She didn't have to act strong anymore because she felt so safe in his arms. Wrapping her arms around his torso, she took another deep breath in and let it out slowly.

"What can I do?" She asked softly, too confused to figure it out.

Pulling away from her slightly, his hand gently guided her head up so that he could look at her. She searched his eyes to find something… find some way to deal with the pain that squeezed her so hard that she could barely breath.

"Shhhh, it's okay…" He told her. Then he pulled her back to his body and held her there. They stood there for so long that she forgot where she was. She rested her head tiredly on his shoulder and closed her eyes, closing out the world around her.

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Hey all, this story is still in production… So updates wont come as fast as I'd like because classes at school are getting crazy. I hope you like it! Please feel free to comment and review.


	2. Chapter One: Nervous Excitement

**Two Days Before**

"So I think it's time." He stated looking up at his best friend with anxiety.

Never had he felt so nervous as he felt now. His mind tried to wrap around the idea and made his stomach uneasy. Everything told him not to make a fool of himself. Not to go through with it. But at the same time, he knew in his heart that it was about time. If he didn't go through with it now, he may loose all the courage to do it at all.

"You're going through with it?" His friend replied with his eyebrow cocked up in amusement. They had been going over the plan for so long that they were both becoming unsure if this was the right time or not. Weiss had been his friend for so long… They went to high school together, went to college together, even survived training at the Farm together. Weiss was the only person he could think of to confide in and he was beginning to question if it was such a great idea telling him at all.

Vaughn took a deep breath and nodded slightly. He pushed away from his desk and opened his drawer to look at it again… Just to check and make sure that it was still okay.

Weiss chuckled. "Okay, you've, like, checked that thirty times already… Yet it's still there Mike."

"What's still there?"

Shutting his drawer quickly, Vaughn straightened up his desk and looked at the feminine figure before him and smiled stiffly. "Nadia… Hey."

"What are you two hiding?" She looked from him to Weiss in suspicion. Her dark hair framed her exotic face and he knew it drove his friend wild. Vaughn enjoyed his own girlfriend's face much more…There was just something about Syd that made him shiver… Maybe it was her hazel brown eyes that he got lost in or those dimples that appeared every time she smiled… He was slightly disappointed that she didn't come in with Nadia.

Weiss looked like a deer caught in the headlights, with his eyes wide and his hands fidgety. He tried to relax and smiled charmingly at her. "Nothing… Uhm, hey, we still on for tonight?"

"A double date to Romano's?" Nadia asked shifting the two folders in her hands. "Of course, wouldn't miss it for the world… But that actually wasn't why I came over here. I wanted to tell you that there's a briefing in the conference room in about ten minutes."

She walked over to Vaughn's desk and placed one of the vanilla folders on his desk. Then she moved over to Weiss' and planted a kiss on his cheek as she put the other folder in his lap. Straightening up, she grinned. "See you two in a few."

As she left, Vaughn rubbed his face in relief. This was just getting way too much for him to hide and he glared at Weiss for his rather unnerved behavior. His friend was never very good at hiding things from Nadia. Eric was so smitten by her that he practically fell apart whenever she came near him.

"What?" Weiss asked defensively.

"What…? You might as well have told her." Vaughn grumbled picking up his file and standing.

They began to walk down the hall to the main room where the secretaries and a few inters worked to keep the paperwork up to date. Dodging an intern heading to the copy machines, he searched for Sydney and found her standing right outside the conference room.

"No, that is not true… She didn't notice a thing." Weiss replied, stuffing a pen into the front pocket of his blazer.

Vaughn grinned when he caught Sydney's gaze and pecked her on the cheek once he got within range. She stood next to her sister with her hair pulled back in a ponytail. Pushing a loose strand behind her ear, she smiled at him.

"Hey you." She greeted holding the file against her chest with her arms wrapped around it.

"Hey." he replied still grinning. His gaze went down to his folder and he opened it to look over the information before the briefing.

Inside was a large black and white picture of a middle aged Englishman with gray sideburns and a dark mustache. Turning over the page, there were specs to a large three story building with three elevator shafts going through the middle. It looked like a fancy hotel.

"Come on in."

Vaughn looked up to catch Sloane passing by them with a cup of coffee. The director entered the conference room and put a pile of papers at the front of the table. Taking a sip from his coffee, he waited for everyone to come in.

They filed in one at a time and took their respected seats around the table. Vaughn sat down beside Sydney and Nadia sat with Weiss on the other side. Dixon, a respectable agent and Sydney's old working partner, took a seat next to Sydney. Marshall, their op-tech man, came in with a few interesting things in his hands along with a cup of coffee. He sat down closest to Sloane and placed his toys on the table. Jack was the last to join them in his pressed suit and stiff walk. He sat down on the other side of Nadia and next to Marshall.

"Morning everyone." Sloane cleared his throat and put his coffee cup onto the table. Folding his hands in front of him, he began to walk around them, slightly pacing. "At sixteen hundred hours, James Layton terminated his affiliation with the CIA. He was a specialist in the Technician's office at Langley, an MIT graduate, he is at the top of his field. However, thanks to Marshall, Langley noticed that tons of their materials were being shipped off to a different location. Money was being spent on projects not authorized by Director Chase."

Sloane pushed a button on his control to the large screen in front of them. A man in his late thirties came up on screen. He had dark hair in a business like cut with stubble on his chin. His blue eyes stared at him as if daring them to investigate him. Vaughn recognized him as the new graduate intern three years ago. They had bumped into each other in the lounge and the man had grumbled about watching where he was going.

"I remember him… Jimmy, he was the crabby intern on the third floor." Weiss pointed at the screen. "He was always in a hurry."

"Well two hours ago he turned up at the Swiss national bank where he took out two million dollars out of this account," Sloane brought up his records on his account, showing that there was over forty million dollars stored. "and transferred it to a man by the name of Broderick Sedgwick code named the Dark Bomber. You should find his picture in your files. He works within the black market, an arms dealer. He is believed to be behind many of the recent attacks on US embassies around the world, including one in Iraq which had been first blamed on the Taliban.

"CIA wants to know why Mr. Layton has an interest in the Dark Bomber. With his skills, he has the ability to create bombs far more superior than Daniel Ryan or his brother could even conceive."

"So are we going after Layton or Sedgwick?" Weiss asked looking at Sloane with a lack of enthusiasm that made everyone smile.

Sloane sat down in his chair and leaned back. "Neither… At least for now. We want to keep an eye on them. Marshall, I want you to track both men. See where they are heading. I want to keep tabs on everything they do, that means what they buy, sell, or hire. If anything seems suspicious, I want to know immediately. Once we have any evidence that they are making some type of weapon, we'll send in a task force to bring them in. Langley is sending in their men to do some recon work. However they want us to make the arrest when there's enough substantial evidence to do so. I just wanted to keep everyone updated on our main objective. That is all."

With that said, Sloane walked out and gestured to Jack to follow. Everyone else stayed put, watching silently as the two men left. It was normal for the two men to have a pow wow together, but it never made Vaughn feel comfortable. He knew that those two were the most underhanded men in their unit and they had done many questionable things in the past. He wasn't sure if they had an endgame to their partnership or not.

"Well that was interesting, to say the least." Weiss said, slightly off canter.

"Looks like I've got work to do." Marshall grinned. "I'll see you all later."

He walked out leaving the four of them.

Getting up, Vaughn stretched and grabbed his folder. He gaze moved to the other three and landed on Sydney. A smile appeared on his lips. "Lunch?"

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Hey all, hope you liked this chapter. I know it may seem a bit confusing, but it'll all unfold eventually. In the middle of exams, so as I said… Updates won't come as frequently as I'd like. Please feel free to comment or review and hey, your comments may change the ending of this story since I haven't finished it yet. So keep reviewing. Thanks!


	3. Chapter Two: The Picnic

"So I think we should take a trip."

She opened her eyes as the breeze played softly against her cheek. The sun's rays hit her face, warming her whole body as she lay on her side in the cool grass. Her stomach was full and they still had thirty minutes until they had to go back. Weiss and Nadia were around somewhere, taking a walk in the Park. She just wanted to lay around and rest.

Vaughn lay next to her as he played with a blade of grass. He scooted over to her and rolled her onto her back. Kissing her on the cheek, he trialed his lips slowly down until he reached her collarbone and stopped. His gaze shifted back up at her face and he smiled.

"A trip?" She asked, pulling her fingers through his hair. "To where?"

"Anywhere…" He replied rolling onto his back and turning his head towards her. "Hawaii, Jamaica, Australia, New Zealand… Sweden… Have you ever swam with the dolphins off the Caribbean Coast?"

His eyes twinkled at the thought and she let out a long sigh knowing that they would never have the time to do something like that. She was quite content here, not doing anything but lying in the grass with him with the sun out and people wondering past them like everything was normal…like nothing mattered…like those three years never happened. She enjoyed that feeling.

"No, I haven't." she said truthfully.

Rolling back on his side again, he smirked. "We should go sometime."

She took his hand and kissed his fingers. Then moving over closer to him, she snuggled against his chest and pulled his arm under her head for a pillow. His cologne smelled so good and she smiled remembering that she had bought it for his birthday.

"Hey you two… We should get back. It's almost one."

Opening her eyes, she realized that she had fallen asleep. She squinted to find Weiss and Nadia standing over them with huge grins on their faces. They looked like they were having the time of their lives together, they always looked like that. Never had she seen Weiss without a grin on his face when he was near her sister. Nadia was pretty much the same way.

"What time is it exactly?" she asked, sitting up and wondering how they had fallen asleep.

Vaughn stretched on the ground and yawned. His hair was more out of order than usual and his nicely pressed shirt was now in wrinkles with pieces of grass all over it. Luckily it was a dark blue shirt, meaning the grass hadn't stained it. He sat up and looked slightly dazed from his nap.

"Quarter till." Nadia replied in her Argentinean accent. "Just enough time to stop at the ice cream shop."

"Ice cream?" Vaughn repeated standing up. He turned around and helped Sydney up. "I'm up for some ice cream."

"Like I need it." Weiss said jokingly. "But she's never had Rocky Road ice cream and no American has not tried rocky road before. It's just not normal."

Once again Sydney wondered what normal really was. She had never experienced any sense of normalcy in her life. From the time she was born, her life had pretty much been a lie. Her mother a KGB agent and her father a CIA agent who happened to enjoy putting little codes in her crossword puzzles since she was six.

They began walking towards the subway station, taking a slight detour to the ice cream shop two blocks over. Sydney ordered one scoop of mint and she shared it generously with Vaughn, who happened to eat more than half as she spoon fed it to him. She smirked when she missed one time hitting his nose. He looked down at it pitifully and she whipped it off with her napkin.

Nadia and Weiss at first shared a Rocky Road cone. However it was a little too much sugar for her liking and she switched to a small chocolate cone, allowing Weiss to finish off the first ice cream. He did this happily.

"I have a couple hours of paperwork waiting on my desk." Weiss groaned as they stood in the maintenance room inside the subway terminal.

Sydney and Vaughn worked on the lock to get into the underground office. Once the door opened, they followed Nadia and Weiss into the long tunnel. All of them had a lot of paperwork to catch up. Just a week ago they had gotten back from a two week mission in France trying to stop a terrorist organization from blowing up a famous well populated castle built for a king three hundred years ago. Those two weeks added up to a long debrief paper and a lot of other legal office work to keep APO off the map.

"So, we should leave at around four-thirty if we're going to get to the restaurant on time." Vaughn told her as they walked to their desk, leaving the other two at the bull pen.

"I'll see you then?" Sydney sat down and looked up at him.

Nodding, he kissed her on the forehead and smiled. "Yeah, I'll see you then."

When he left, she turned in her chair and looked at her computer. Her debrief report was halfway finished and yet she still had a few more pages to go. This was part of her job she just didn't enjoy. Sure she loved reading literature and writing was fine and dandy; after all she was an English Literature graduate. However, writing debriefs was the dullest part of her job. She hated the amount of detail she had to put into it.

"Anytime now." She heard a voice from behind her and she turned her chair to find Dixon at his desk, his arms crossed over his chest as he smiled knowingly.

"What?" she asked, slightly unnerved by the fact that she hadn't noticed him standing there.

His smile grew on his face and he let his arms drop to his sides. "I said, anytime now."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that anytime now he is going to pop the question. I can feel it."

She rolled her eyes and then smiled embarrassingly. "No, he's not."

"Oh, believe me. I know it." Dixon replied with a nod. "So, this whole thing with Layton… What do you think about it?"

"I met him last year. He seemed like he was in his own world, like nothing around him really mattered. I tried to talk to him once but he just grumbled about something and walked away. Marshall would probably know more about him though… He's taken two million dollars out and what the heck is he going to do with all of it? What materials did he take that was unauthorized?" she leaned back in her chair and began to roll the questions in her head. "I wonder… I think Marshall knows a lot about this."

"I heard my name." Marshall's head peaked in and he grinned. "Hey, you're back from lunch."

She turned her chair to him and stood up. "Marshall, what do you know about James Layton?"

"The guy's a genius." he told her. "I mean, even I couldn't believe some of the stuff he knew. Quantum mechanics that seemed impossible to calculate in your head, he could do. He was kind of unsocial though. He didn't like being around people."

"What'd he ship out that got him fired?" Dixon asked, joining the conversation as he stood up and came to stand next to her. Folding his arms across his chest again, he listened as Marshall began to explain to them the massive amount of materials the man had taken out of the CIA storage units.

"Layton got his hands on a key card and copied a duplicate to get into the storage units. I mean, these are top access cards that no one but the top dogs can get their hands on. He took ammunition, artillery, explosives… you name something that's in the storage units and he's probably stolen one or a thousand of them. That's how he stocked up all that money in his Swedish account. He sold this stuff to the highest bidder and it was usually to terrorist networks in countries such as Iraq and Cuba. He basically sold arms to groups the CIA was trying to get rid of. Men on his side… well use to be on his side, died by the weapons he stole. Kinda freaky huh?" Marshall shrugged. "Anyway, he's been quiet ever since the money was transferred. Nothing else has been shipped in or out of his location.

"I better run, got a job to do. See you two later… have a nice day." Marshall left in a hurry, proud that he was needed more than any of the rest of them.

She smiled at him and crossed her arms as she tired to figure out what Layton was trying to do. What the heck was his endgame and why wasn't there any activity in his sector anymore? She turned about to head to her desk when Dixon began shaking his head.

"I don't understand why the CIA doesn't just grab him while they still can. What if we're too late and thousands of people die because of it?" Dixon grumbled not enjoying the idea.

Nodding, she agreed with him. If they waited, they may just have a chance at catching Sedgwick, the Dark Bomber. However, at the same time, they were also risking thousands of innocent lives. "I don't like it either. But it may allow us the chance to catch Sedgwick. The CIA seems more concerned about him than they are with Layton."

"Well the Dark Bomber is on Interpol's most wanted--." Dixon began saying then paused in mid-sentence to raise his eyebrows at something behind her.

Sydney turned to discover Nadia's head peaking through the doorway. "Nadia, something wrong?"

"No, just that Eric told me that he and Michael had to go on an errand… Something about Sloane needing some info from one of their contacts located at the safe house. They told me to tell you that we should just meet up at the restaurant instead of waiting for them. They don't know how long it will take them, but they said that they should be done before six." Nadia told her.

"Oh… okay. That's fine." Sydney replied still thinking about Layton. People joined the CIA with the knowledge that they were fighting for their country and its people. It wasn't just some random job. Layton had to already have all this planned out since he had turned rogue so soon after his recruit. "Head home at four thirty?"

"Sounds great. See you then." Nadia grinned and disappeared, leaving Dixon and Sydney to go over their debrief reports together.

When they were done, she rubbed her eyes and was glad to find Nadia waiting by the door. If anything, she was ready to get out of the office.


	4. Chapter Three: The Question

Vaughn combed through his hair one more time and looked in the mirror to make sure his light blue button down shirt was decent. He played with the tie around his neck and then took it off. It was too formal and too tight around his throat.

"Geez, you're like a girl. Let's go before we keep them waiting. That's the last thing you want her to remember." Weiss groaned playing with his car keys as he watched his friend take off the tie for the third time. "Not like it'd be on your neck for very long anyway."

"Eric, shut up." Vaughn snapped. He took a deep breath and then grabbed his jacket. "Let's go."

"Thank god!" Weiss exclaimed happily in relief as they walked to their cars parked out front.

The girls hadn't left yet. He spotted their cars still parked out front of Sydney's apartment. Relieved, he got into his car to start it up. They needed to be gone before the girls saw him. He was enough of a mess as it was and he didn't want to have to deal with explaining where he had been all afternoon.

It took around thirty minutes to get to the restaurant. By the time he got out of his car and into the restaurant, Sydney's small SUV had pulled into a parking space up front. The small elegant restaurant sat next to the pier that looked out to the pacific. It was the perfect spot to see the sunset and was right next to a soft white beach.

Fiddling with his collar again, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Weiss wasn't helping him with that stupid grin on his face. All it did was make him more nervous. Give him a choice and he would gladly shove his best friend into the ocean. Maybe he shouldn't have told Weiss his plans after all.  
"Hey boys." Nadia said in greeting. Her long red dress fit snuggly around her body and he could see Weiss blushing slightly. She hugged Vaughn and gave Weiss a peck on the lips.

When Sydney entered, everything around him slowed down and he had a hard time keeping his eyebrows down from surprise and delight. She had on a dark blue dress made out of a light satin cloth. It fit around her curves in just the right way. He could barely get out a recognizable hello as she kissed him lightly on the lips. The scent of flowers and vanilla filled his nose, making him grin.

"Hey." She smiled almost bashfully.

"You look beautiful… our tables… They're, uh, outside." He sputtered as if he were on his first date with her. By no means had he ever stumbled over his words so badly, not even in high school. If anyone saw him right now, they'd never believe he was an undercover agent for a black ops CIA branch. They'd laugh in his face.

Weiss and Nadia led the way to a table out on the gazebo, just inches from the pier and the ocean. Pulling a seat out for Sydney, he watched as she sat down gracefully. The salty breeze blew a few loose strands of hair that had escaped out of her barrette and she pulled them back behind her ear with one hand.

He gazed out at the water and noticed that the sun was just beginning to fade into the surface of the ocean. Perfect timing…

"You know what? Why don't we take our wine out onto the beach before dinner arrives." Vaughn asked off handedly.

"Michael… we can't go out there. Look at what you're wearing." She grinned as if believing that he had forgotten where they were.

He shrugged as if he didn't care, which he really didn't. To show her that, he began taking off his shoes and socks. Looking up, he saw the embarrassment on her face. "What?"

"Look at where we are."

"Exactly. We're on the beach and the sun's setting. Around this time of the year, the water can't be that cold. It's perfect." He told her. "Don't you agree Weiss?"

Weiss looked slightly hesitant and began to fiddle with his tie. "Uh, Mike… I don't know..."

Vaughn glared at him and then waited patiently for Sydney to get up. "Come on Syd. This is like a once in a life time moment. Look out there. It's beautiful and we're going to miss it because we're at some extravagant restaurant on the coast and we're too afraid to get our feet wet."

Sydney sighed and looked over at Nadia and Weiss for help. They both shrugged and didn't give her any feedback. Glancing up at him, her dimples deepened as her smile grew at his ridiculous request.

"Alright, alright… You two coming?" She asked taking off her heels.

"Uhm, no. We'll leave you two crazy love birds to do your thing. I'm not getting this dress wet." Nadia replied looking slightly skeptical at the idea.

The wine came as expected and the waiter gave Vaughn a funny look when he noticed his feet were bare. Ignoring the man, he took his wine glass in one hand and grabbed Sydney's hand with the other. He dragged her out of the gazebo and onto the beach.

He felt the cooling sand go between his toes and suddenly he was ten years younger. Gazing over at her, he noticed the same reaction on her face as she let a long breath out. He began searching for seashells in the sand and found a couple of broken ones near the shoreline. Walking until his feet began to get wet with the coming tides, he began to throw them into the sea and watched as they skipped across the surface. As soon as the next wave came in, they would disappear under the current.

"You're right… This is perfect." Sydney said as she sipped from her wineglass.

A gull swooped above them and took a dive into the ocean to come up with a fish inside of its bill. Vaughn grinned and began to lead his love down the shoreline. As the sun sunk into the horizon, new colors began to burst into the sky like a painter spilling his palette.

He grabbed a piece of conk shell off the ground again and noticed an unbroken clam shell nearby. Tossing the broken shell into the ocean allowed him to go over to the full shell. "Have you ever seen the inside of a clam before?"

She glanced over at him as if he had broken her out of thought. Her eyes studied the clam shell that now was in his palm and shook her head smiling. "No, I haven't."

As if to testify to this, another gull called above them in approval. It took a nose dive just like the other one and came up with nothing. Then it skimmed the top of the ocean and came up with a beak full of fish. It again called out to them in happiness and Vaughn took that as a good sign.

He gave the clam shell to Sydney and motioned with his hands to show her how to open it. She pried it open and looked inside. Her eyes went wide and she took in a sudden breath of surprise.

Kneeling down in the sand, he looked up at her with a nervous smile. "I know you wanted us to go slow…But Sydney there are two things in my life that I am sure about. One is that I love you, I love you so much… And two, that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know our job calls us to different ends of the worlds and that it's dangerous and chaotic at times…

"This ring was given to me by my mother. She gave it to me when I went off to college. It's the same ring my father proposed to her with. She told me that I should give it to the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with… Syd, when I thought you had died… I sold it, because I knew that I would never meet another woman I wanted as much as you. I spent these last two months, with Marshall's help, relocating it…"

He swallowed and took a jagged breath in. "If you would say yes… it would mean the world to me. If…"

"Shhh." She smiled and he found both happiness mixed with a tint of sadness reflecting in her beautiful eyes. Her smile grew bigger and she bent down to look him directly in the eyes. "Yes."

"Yeah?" he asked hesitantly, not sure if he had heard her right.

Sticking her left hand in front of him, she nodded. "Yes… I do… I want to."

Putting the ring on her finger, he leaned into her body and kissed her lightly on the lips. He could feel himself relax and warmth grew throughout his body. It was over and she had said yes.

A sound of a click drew them apart and both of them looked up towards the gazebo. Weiss crouched just a few feet away with a digital camera in hand. Nadia stood just behind him, glowing at the scene before her. Bringing the lens away from his face, Weiss grinned as if satisfied.

"Eric? Nadia?" Sydney said surprised. "Did you know about this?"

"I did… she didn't." Weiss replied sheepishly. "Hey, congrats!… But our food is here… If you folks are done… I'd like to eat."

"Eric!" Nadia warned him with a glare.

"We'll be up in a minute." Sydney replied and she turned back to Vaughn. He gazed back at her lovingly. "Hey."

"Hey." He grinned. "Ready?"

"Sure." She replied.

They began walking up the dune to the gazebo. He stopped her just before they reached the entrance. Turning her around, he gave her another longer deeper kiss. He pulled back to study the woman he had just pledged his heart to.

"I love you Sydney Bristow."

She smiled and gave him a hug. Whispering into his ear, she said the sweetest thing he would ever hear. "I love you too."

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Hey folks, sorry for the massive delay on updates. Because of this, I have put up two chapters. I hope you liked them. Don't forget to comment. I'd love to hear what you think about it.


	5. Chapter Four: The Mission

Sitting down in her chair, she couldn't help but grin. It had been a long time since she had felt so good. Most of the time she just felt too confused, but tonight was perfect. She leaned over and kissed Vaughn on the cheek to show her appreciation. His head turned and he was grinning too. She figured they both looked rather ridiculous with the big goofy smiles on their face.

"Hey, hey everyone." Weiss stood up and spoke loudly to the other patrons at the restaurant. Vaughn put his face in his hands in embarrassment and Nadia tried to pull her boyfriend back into his seat.

"Wiess…" Nadia pleaded, but Weiss ignored her.

He picked up his glass and looked over at Vaughn who was still hiding in his hands. "If I can get your attention for just one second."

She could see a small tint of red in her fiancée's skin and she leaned her head on his shoulder. Looking over at her, Vaughn let out a sigh and then shrugged as if there was nothing he could do.

"I just wanted to announce that my two best friends who've I've know forever have just gotten engaged tonight!" Weiss grinned and raised his glass above his head for a toast. "I must say… It's about damn time! To you two and may you be happy together for the rest of your lives."

People around them that had taken the time to pay attention began to clap and cheer. Weiss nodded to both of them and then took a sip of his wine. Nadia did the same and then laughed once people turned back to their own lives.

"Thanks." Vaughn rubbed his face and then raised his glass to finish the toast.

"I don't think this night could have gone any more perfectly." Nadia grinned after taking a sip from her own glass. "Let me see the ring."

Sydney moved her hand over to where her sister could see and she herself took a better look at it. It was a simple ring made out of white gold. There were three small diamonds, one sat in the middle of the band with the other smaller two on each side. She couldn't have asked for anything better and it meant so much to her that it had been his mother's.

"Wow, where did you buy this?" Nadia asked.

"You should have seen the lengths this guy went to retrieve it." Weiss teased, leaning back in his chair as he wrapped his arm around her.

Vaughn's smile turned sheepish. "It was my mother's. My father brought it back from South Africa and had the ring made just for her. Then her proposed with it… I got it when I went off to college and sold it later on."

"It went to Transylvania and back again." Weiss told them. "He went through several years worth of receipts and jewelry stores. Marshall finally located it in France. It was owned by some antique jeweler."

"So on a mission over there, I took a detour and went to the shop to see if they still had it." Vaughn looked over at Sydney. "I didn't tell you this, but I melted down my father's watch in order to use the gold off of it to refinish the ring. I thought… since it meant so much to me… remember how it had stopped working when I met you. I thought it would be perfect."

"It is." Sydney replied, surprised that he had gotten rid of his father's watch to repair the ring. "I can't believe you did all that."

Shrugging, Vaughn kissed her softly on the lips and then grinned. "I wanted everything to be perfect."

"So that whole needing to do something for Sloane…?" Nadia looked up at Weiss.

"Some things are meant to be secret." Weiss replied as if he had no intention on telling them what they were doing for a full three hours before they had to arrive at the restaurant.

Their plates of food were set on the table and just as they were about to dig in, Sydney's cell phone began to ring. She looked down at it and heard Vaughn's phone go off too. Then Weiss's and Nadia's phones went off and they all knew what was up.

Weiss held his hand up to tell Vaughn and Sydney not to pick theirs up. He answered his phone in annoyance and rolled his eyes. "Hey, this is Weiss… Nope, haven't seen them… Well I'm having dinner with someone… It might be, why?… I'll relay the message, but I have a feeling they got lost out on the beaches somewhere… Well is it necessary?… I'll be right in."

Clicking his phone closed, he let out a long sigh. "So of course the world is going to end tonight and Sloane wants us in his office ASAP. However, you two are lost and will remain lost."

"Weiss…" Sydney protested, knowing that if it was important, they should be there.

"No, don't Weiss me. Nadia and I will cover for you tonight. But we expect to see you bright and early tomorrow morning no matter what." he told her as if acting as a scolding parent. Standing up, he waved to the waiter. "Uhm, can we get these two plates to go?"

"Thanks." Vaughn said appreciatively.

"Don't have too much fun without us." he replied and guided Nadia out once they received their doggie bags.

"Well." Sydney said taking in a deep breath and looking over at Vaughn who seemed quite content in their situation.

He lifted his eyebrows as if to ask 'now what?' "Well… want to go to the piers after we eat?"

"I think I've had enough time to think." She replied with a devilish grin. "We could go to my place."

"Yeah?"

………………………………………………………………………………………….

"I thought you had my back on this one." Vaughn grumbled as he fixed his tie.

They walked into APO at one in the morning and he was rather ticked at having to be there. Just after arriving as Sydney's place, Weiss called them saying that it was an emergency and they had to come in.

The only thing Vaughn had gotten to do was change into his business suit and grab popsicle while heading out the door as Sydney started the car. Out of her dress and in to her business suit, she gave him a slightly disappointed smile as they drove out.

"It was either you two enjoying your night and the China nuclear bomb blasting away half of Taiwan or me dragging you into the office. I had no other choice." Weiss replied with a shrug. "Plus Jack basically ripped my arm off to find out where you were. The guy is very persuasive when it comes to finding out about his daughter."

"I know." Vaughn replied, remembering the long stiff silence after he had asked the man for his daughter's hand in marriage. He knew that it wasn't going to be the most comfortable thing in the world to do, but he felt that it was a necessity to do. Also, he didn't even really care if the man approved or not. It was more of a polite announcement than anything else.

Jack came bursting out of his office and looked around for his daughter who had just come in after a detour to the bathroom to take the rest of her makeup off. She had her hair back in a French braid and as she walked in, she tucked her long bangs behind her ear.

"Dad, what's going on?" Sydney asked coming to stand next to Vaughn.

Jack looked from her face to Vaughn's and then back at hers. "Interpol just picked up a phone call made by the top terrorist agent in China. They're setting up some kind of explosion in Taiwan and if the explosion goes off, we're looking at another Vietnam."

"Why now? Aren't there peace talks going on? Aren't diplomats from both countries trying to settle the historical tensions between the two?" she asked.

"Yeah, well there's actually some people who don't want that to happen." Weiss told them.

Sloane poked his head out and waved them into his office. "Come quickly for your mission brief. Plane will be leaving at oh-five hundred hours. We have no time to waste."

Feeling like he was being pulled through a tornado, Vaughn followed everyone into the conference room and noticed Dixon and Marshall already seated. He sat down next to Sydney who took a seat next to Dixon.

He saw Dixon looking down at Sydney's hand. The man grinned in approval. "I told you so… Congratulations."

"Thanks." Sydney smiled with a slight glow.

"As Jack has already updated you on, Echelon and Interpol both picked up telephone relays that have informed us that at twenty-one hundred hours, the terrorist group, the Black Dragons, has set up a nuclear war missile that is directly targeted to hit Taipei. After all the relation talks in China, this would not be a good international affairs move for the Chinese government and the Taiwanese government would be forced to act. We are looking at a set up for another Vietnam catastrophe, which amid the Iraqi problems, would not be a good thing for the American government to deal with." Sloane told them.

He turned to the widescreen in front of them and brought up a fuzzy picture that probably came from a security camera. It was a man of Asian decent in westernized clothing. His hair was smoothed back and his chin was lined with hair. "This is Chen Hsieh, former intelligence officer for the Chinese Communist government gone rogue after the Korean War. He is on the international's ten most wanted list and is the suspect behind ten or so attacks on U.S. Embassies located throughout Asia. We believe that the telephone messages we caught were being transferred to him at his hideout in downtown Beijing."

"So the CIA wants us to go in? Why not just send in their own agents?" Dixon asked with his hands folded in his lap.

"Because our relationship with China is already on a thin wire and we can't afford barging in. The Chinese government has denied any nuclear programs within their country's parameters. If the CIA went in, they would accuse us of breaking an international treaty. This is about as sensitive as the North Korean mission that occurred a year ago." Jack told them matter-of-factly.

Sloane switched the picture on the screen to architecture plans of a building. "Now this is where we believe they will be launching the nuke. It's right outside the capital in China. CIA wants us to infiltrate the building and shut it down… completely. Vaughn and Sydney, I want you on point. Nadia and Weiss will provide back up support. Jack and Marcus, you're going to be their eyes. Marshall will provide op-tech support. I want you up and ready within the hour."

"Wait, what about Layton and Sedgwick? I thought they were our first priority." Sydney said before Sloane could leave. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for him to explain their sudden change in assignments.

Sloane nodded and shut off the screen. "As you know Agent Bristow, things can change suddenly. CIA has changed our main target."

"So we're off the case completely?" Dixon asked.

"No." Sloane admitted. "Just for the time being. For now, our focus is on Chen. CIA has Mr. Layton covered for now. In fact, we're sending some of our new agents over to help out their men in an interdepartmental task force. I want you to focus on the larger mission at hand. Afterwards we can deal with the rogue. Everyone understand?"

Sloane smiled in a lizard-like manner and then left the room. After taking a moment to wonder where he was going, they all began quickly searching through their files to figure out the best way to infiltrate.

"It says here that Chen will be holding a large reception right before the launch… I bet it's a cover for them." Weiss stated.

"So we can do another Moscow…like what we did to destroy the Medusa?" Vaughn asked looking quickly at the schematics. If he was correct, the ballroom was in the main building and there was a tunnel to get to the labs. Attached to the labs was a long shaft that went to the roof. It was probably where the rocket would be launched. If they could destroy the lab without the nuclear bomb exploding and also keeping the other part from being destroyed, then they would have their job done without any civilians getting killed. But then, when did their missions ever go as planned?

Sydney rubbed the back of her neck. "We'd have to get invited to the banquet as guests and sneak in undetected. Do we know what type of security this place has?"

Marshall stood up and grabbed the controller that Sloane had in his hand earlier. Pushing a button, the screen turned back on with the architecture plans. Another click and lines appeared all around the laboratory rooms.

"This is their security system. They have a lockdown mechanism in place when someone without the passkey tries to enter. Once they enter, all the doors lock and the intruder can't get out. The intruder is locked in this part right here and a carbon monoxide kills them within minutes. However, if the intruder does happen to get in undetected, they have other measures including the fact that the control room has laser sensors and pressure sensors on the floor so that anyone without Chen's knowledge enters the room, it'll also go into lockdown mode." Marshall explained with a laser pointer.

Weiss raised his eyebrows. "This guy's freakin' schitzo."

"But that's not the best… worst part." Marshall winced slightly. "They have a camera in every part of their building, meaning we'd have to override their system to keep you out of view."

"We've done that before." Sydney replied, not sure what the problem with that was.

Marshall shook his head. "The thing is that they also have pressure sensors so that if someone did override their system, they'd still know there was someone in their building that shouldn't be. They keep track of where everyone is at any time."

"Can you override the pressure system?" Nadia asked.

"Me, of course I can… But you'll probably have to run through a mile long tunnel within five minutes because the guards switch every five minutes and if they don't see that in their monitors, they'll get suspicious."

"So what's our plan of action?" Vaughn asked.


End file.
